Our Firm

About Sheer Velocity

A Retained Executive Search Firm with International Reach

Sheer Velocity is a boutique retained executive search firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional offices in Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Boulder, San Francisco, and Scottsdale. We also partner with INAC, an association of globally retained search firms in over 30 countries, for international clients needs. We specialize in finding the right fit for our clients corporate DNA mapping, personality assessments, and onboarding processes.

Our Recruiting Philosophy

Every hiring decision puts your company’s profitability on the line. Hiring mistakes are costly and rehiring only compounds those financial blows. Integrating the wrong candidate into your organization also wastes other precious resources: time, energy, and morale. At Sheer Velocity, our executive recruiters operate efficiently and transparently to maximize returns on your human capital investment. We will never cut corners on diligence simply to force a placement, and our guaranteed transparency means that you will always know exactly where you stand in the search process.

We also understand that speed is integral in signing top talent, so you can count on us for swift results. And we remain lean by design, to assure you a straight-forward fee structure with no hidden expenses. With Sheer Velocity, you will receive the benefits of agility without limitations, and unmatched expertise to extend your reach.

We pride ourselves on the fact that most of our client relationships are long-term. We earn your loyalty by being consistently effective, energetically responsive to your needs, and tenaciously committed to your ongoing success. Our experienced consultants work closely with you to bring your strategic talent and governance needs into sharp focus, then help you craft and successfully execute thoughtfully focused action plans.

Our Executive Search Process

We’re more than simply headhunters; we work closely with you to find candidates who will fit in with your culture for maximum retention and ROI.

Our Practice Areas

Our Team

Sheer Velocity’s consultants have owned boutique retained executive search firms and served at the highest levels inside industry-leading top executive search firms. What’s more, we’ve worked on the other side of the curtain, at entrepreneurial start-ups and large corporations.

Matching proven performers with critical roles inside our own organizations has galvanized our respect for the challenges you face hiring professionals. Sheer Velocity puts this valuable perspective to work on your behalf.

We proudly encourage our team members to give back to the communities that support us by volunteering at nonprofit organizations that feed their individual passions.

Jon Gordon

Managing Partner

Jon E. Gordon, Managing Partner

Jon Gordon is Sheer Velocity’s Managing Partner and co-founder in Denver, Colorado. Before launching Sheer Velocity, he served for five years as Executive Vice President for one of the largest retained executive search firms in the US and was based in Boulder, Colorado.

Before joining one of the nation’s largest international executive search firms, Jon spearheaded several start-up ventures. Over the course of Jon’s career, he has been recruiting top talent and hiring professionals for over 25 years in the C-suite through middle management which brings a broad depth and understanding of the business needs facing his clients. Jon focuses on searches at all levels in Information Technology, Finance, Human Resources, Operations, Sales, and Supply Chain. He has built companies from the ground up that have yielded successful exits for investors and employees alike.

Jon was a Managing Partner for Three Value Logic (3VL), a professional services/sales organization specializing in sales optimization and efficiency. 3VL worked on behalf of its clients representing their products and services, boosting existing sales organization effectiveness, and developing entry-level sales talent through its unique Career Sales Development Program.

Before 3VL, Jon was the Vice President of Corporate Development for PureVision Technology, a Life Sciences and Industrial company that is developing a unique approach to converting lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol and other useful industrial products. Jon was also a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Worldprints.com, an online ecommerce and data-gathering business, acquired by Excite@home in April of 2000. At Worldprints.com, Jon was responsible for day-to-day operations, ramping from two employees to over 80 before negotiating its successful acquisition.

Earlier in his career, Jon co-founded and served as Senior Vice President of SkyConnect, Inc., a leading provider of digital ad insertion and video-on-demand file servers which is now part of Arris Corporation. Jon has founded and operated several other companies including VR 1, Inc. a multi-player internet gaming company; Global Entertainment Systems, Inc., a developer of image compression technology for the cable television industry with its assets licensed by Scientific Atlanta; and Diversified Video Group, an international videotape fulfillment and distribution company.

Jon graduated with a degree in Environmental Conservation from the University of Colorado and currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and three children. He is currently Past President of the Board of Boulder’s Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA), a nonprofit organization helping families in need with food, housing and other basic necessities since 1918.

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Debra J. Young

Managing Partner

Debra J. Young, Managing Partner

Debra J. Young, PHR, is Sheer Velocity’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner. Before founding Sheer Velocity, she was Executive Vice President of a top five retained executive search firm. Prior to that, Ms. Young was a Managing Partner of a national boutique retained executive search firm responsible for starting their Denver office where she successfully managed the recruitment and placements of senior-level executives. Her human resources and recruiting career started four years prior while working as a Human Resources Administrator for a Fortune 500 company.

Ms. Young’s expertise lies within the following industries: Consumer Goods, Food/Beverage, Energy/Utilities, Oil & Gas, Capital Equipment Rentals, Life Sciences, Healthcare and Industrial/Manufacturing. Within those industries she continues to successfully complete functional assignments for persons in CEO, CFO, President and top Senior Leadership roles in Sales, Operations, Human Resources, Supply Chain & Logistics, Transportation and Finance. She has significant experience with Venture Capital, Private Equity, family-owned and publicly traded companies and understands the unique nuances of recruiting into each of them.

Ms. Young’s track record confirms she is a trusted partner to her clients. She exhibits the highest level of quality and professional service through a consultative approach, strong work ethic and impressive professional network. Her clients hold her in high regard as a professional business woman whose true passion is finding executives unparalleled career opportunities with exemplary companies. To reconfirm her commitment to finding the right talent for her clients, in addition to her keen ability to identify strong cultural fits, she is certified in the Hogan Assessment and performs that work for the firm.

Ms. Young earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts Degrees from the University of Denver, a Paralegal Degree from Carthage College, and has her Human Resources Management Certification from Villanova University. Additionally, she holds a Professional Human Resources (PHR) Certification and is an active member of the Society for Human Resources Management and Mile High SHRM. She currently lived in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her husband and son and enjoys spinning, running, music, and performing charitable work.

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David Quigley

Managing Director - Denver, Colorado

David Quigley, Managing Director - Denver, Colorado

David Quigley serves as Sheer Velocity’s Managing Director in our Denver, Colorado office. David brings over 15 years of executive search experience, the majority focused in financial services, as an executive recruiter working on a wide range of roles for his clients. Immediately prior to joining Sheer Velocity, David was a Managing Director with a leading retained executive search firm based in Denver, Colorado. David was also a Managing Director with F.S. von Stade & Associates, a leading Wall Street executive search firm where he was involved with all aspects of the business and personally conducted client and candidate development for investment banking, private equity, hedge funds and asset management clients.

Recently, David was also a Senior Search Consultant with Hire Education, a firm focused in the growing vertical of education technology and education services. David focused on placements in sales, sales leadership, marketing, business development, product development, program management and senior technology leadership positions filling critical roles for his clients.

David was also a Co-Founder of OneWire, a New York based technology company in the Talent Acquisition/Management space focused on financial services and finance. The SaaS application allows employers and candidates to manage the recruiting process more effectively and efficiently.

David started his career at Marsh, the international insurance brokerage division of MMC. As a Vice President, David was a team leader in the Risk Management Casualty Division and worked closely with corporate clients to manage their liability risks. His clients spanned all industry verticals and included the portfolio companies and target companies of many private equity groups and investment banking M&A teams.

David is a graduate of Lake Forest College with a BA in History. He currently lives in Littleton, Colorado with his wife and two children, where he enjoys cycling, playing golf and enjoying the great outdoors.

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Todd Cowles

Managing Director

Todd Cowles, Managing Director

Todd Cowles is the Managing Director for the Seattle office of Sheer Velocity. Before joining Sheer Velocity as a retained executive search consultant, Todd brings years of experience in sales leadership, recruiting and independent partner channel development to our organization. Beyond his “day jobs” across the years, he also has a unique background in non-profit volunteer, event and board work.

The bulk of Todd’s career has been spent building businesses within the building automation and energy management industries, both in the United States and abroad. From Fortune 100 companies of Siemens and Honeywell to a couple of start-ups, Todd will tell you he has been very fortunate to have had experience ranging from formal training and very structured business practices to dealing with the blank slate of very raw businesses coming out of the ground. Recruiting key employees for his organization and their channel partners has been a key driver to profitable growth across the years.

Todd is a strong believer in matching individuals to companies and roles based on motivation, culture and potential to succeed. There can certainly be technical skills and specific experience as minimums, but the match needs to be made on the things that cannot be taught. Todd has felt both the pain and the satisfaction of a hire that misses the mark versus one that perfectly matches the person to the opportunity. He understands how costly the misses can be and how everyone wins when things are done right.

Todd has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He lives in Redmond, Washington with his two sons. Any spare time is spent outdoors, biking, hiking, skiing and kayaking. Volunteering and community service is an energizing part of Todd’s life as he works with several local charities, plus he is the director of his own small non-profit to support a large mountain biking event each January in Seattle.

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Gina Kubacik

Partner

Gina Kubacik, Partner

Gina brings over six years of retained executive search experience by establishing herself as a trusted search partner to her clients with her strong work ethic, deep industry knowledge and extensive professional network.

During the discovery process, Gina strives to learn all that she can of her client’s critical needs and long-term business goals to be able to make placements aligning with their needs.

As a result, Gina is known for her substantial repeat business from her clients by her consultative approach that results in presenting candidates that exceeds their expectations. A sampling of her clientele includes global pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, biotech, clinical and contract research companies, private equity backed companies as well as early-stage companies.

Immediately prior to joining Sheer Velocity, Gina was the President of Apex Global Search, Inc. in Chicago Illinois. Gina was also the Director, Global Search with a boutique retained executive life sciences search firm. In all positions, Gina focuses on filling critical roles for her clients ranging from senior to executive level sales, business development, project management, operations, and C-Suite placements.

Before becoming an Executive Recruiter, Gina started her career at WGN Radio as a Senior Account Executive and later at AOL as a Sales Director. Gina was a top sales performer working strategically with top regional clients to provide best in class advertising campaigns based on specific client needs in multiple verticals including life science, CPG and retail.

Gina is a graduate of Indiana University with a BA in Communications. She currently lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three children, where she enjoys playing tennis, cycling, and watching her children’s sporting events.

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Angie Engel

Partner

Angie Engel, Partner

Angie has more than 15 years of Human Resources recruiting experience. In her role, she specializes in the national placement of top caliber Human Resources talent at senior executive levels from Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO), Chief Talent Officers(CTO), Vice Presidents and Directors. Her focus includes several functions including Organizational Development, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, Labor Relations, Talent Management, Strategic HR Analytics and HR Systems positions. Angie challenges her clients and candidates in the same way she challenges herself by “daring them to be great”. This simple, but reflective, philosophy has helped her lead and consult her clients and candidates to make life- and business-altering decisions that positively affect careers and corporations for years to come. Through her unwavering integrity and transparent approach, she regularly creates exceptional partnerships. Angie’s tenacity complimented by her expert knowledge of Human Resources, consistently delivers pragmatic and strategic long-term placements for her candidates and clients in start-up, growth, mid-size and Fortune 500 environments.

Prior to joining Sheer Velocity, Angie was a Senior Partner for Lucas Groups Human Resources vertical, specialized in HR search where she was the #1 Recruiter nationally for her division. She began her career in executvie search as a National Recruiter for Randstad HR, the second largest HR services provider in the World, when she segued from Corporate Human Resources as an HR Manager/Recruiter in the Technology & Security spaces. Throughout her recruiting career, she’s managed the careers of some of the top HR talent in the nation. Angie has made it her mission to continue to create exceptional relationships with game-changing talent in the Human Resources space.

Angie’s interest and passion for HR began early on as she holds a BS in Management and Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her zest for life is apparent in her personal life as well as she enjoys reading, Broadway theatre, travel and scuba diving. Angie lives in a downtown neighborhood of Chicago, with her husband and two small children; big sister Piper and little man Brax. Though she has lived in Chicago for over 15+ years she has never fallen off the Green Bay Packer wagon.

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Kirsten Parus

Director of Strategic Accounts

Kirsten Parus serves as the Director of Strategic Accounts in our Denver office.

Kristen Parus, Director of Strategic Accounts

Kirsten Parus joins Sheer Velocity as Director of Strategic Accounts following her tenure as an Executive Search Recruiter in Denver working globally for a top five retained executive search firm. Kirsten’s executive placements have focused within the Energy, Mining, Construction, Industrial and Financial Services sectors. She has contributed to searches for Walt Disney Imagineering, Kiewit Energy, Kiewit Mining, Husky Energy, Meridian Infrastructure, Fairmount Minerals, and Focus Corporation as well as Hamon Deltak, Real Goods Solar, Holland Partners, Capital Safety, and MakuCell.

Prior to her tenure within the executive search industry, Kirsten worked in banking and financial services for ten years with institutions such as Mutual of New York, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase. Across her career, she has enjoyed tremendous success building relationships at every level, from middle management to the C-suite.

Kirsten holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Minnesota. She is also a Dale Carnegie Sales Course graduate, and was recognized by her instructors for “Best Sales Reports” and “Best Continuous Performance.” Additionally, Kirsten received highest Dale Carnegie honors and was voted “Sales Talk Champion” by her fellow students. Thanks to her exemplary performance, Kirsten was recruited as a Group leader for future Dale Carnegie classes.

Kirsten resides in Littleton, Colorado with her husband and three daughters. She enjoys spending time with her family, running, skiing and playing golf.

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Bill Petry

Executive Vice President

Bill Petry, Executive Vice President

Bill Petry, Executive Vice President in our St. Louis office, brings a diverse business background and a wealth of recruiting experience to Sheer Velocity. He has extensive experience in recruiting and business development in both domestic and international environments; new product conceptualization and launch; and developing strong business partnerships. He is equally comfortable consulting with senior executives and frontline managers.

Most recently, Bill was the Managing Principal for a boutique recruiting and consulting organization, providing top talent as well as executive coaching services to his clients. Prior to that, he worked for a premier executive outplacement firm as their Director of Business Development, growing the business and assisting executives through their career transitions. He has also served as a business development manager for an international inspirational products organization.

His experience as a Senior Consultant/Training Manager was at an IT professional recruiting firm. He led the organization with personal production and provided a thorough knowledge of the recruiting and hiring processes including sourcing, interviewing, tracking, salary negotiations, and closing candidates.

Bill started his recruiting career in the United States Navy, where he received several commendations and the Navy Achievement Medal. He was also awarded “Navy Recruiter of the Year” and “Recruiter of the Nation” for the Navy League. His strong business acumen and management of technology to achieve results are hallmarks of his career.

Bill lives in St. Louis with his wife, Debi, and is the father of 11 children. He is actively involved in the Boy Scouts, youth groups and other community organizations.

Michael Burroughs, Managing Director

Michael brings over 15 years of executive recruiting experience to Sheer Velocity, including ten years spent as Managing Director of the St. Louis office of a “top five” global retained executive search firm. He has recruited well over one hundred executives to posts ranging from director to public company CEO, in a variety of industries across the US, Asia and Europe. Michael focuses his search work in the areas of general Industrial, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Aerospace & Defense, and Nonprofits.

Prior to entering the retained search business, Michael was the top organization development executive for divisions of three Fortune 500 companies: McDonnell Douglas, American Express and Aramark. He also held executive positions in operations, business development, program management and sales, and his experience extends to smaller companies as well. He was the COO of a healthcare contract services start up, and has owned an organization development consulting practice, Segue Consulting Group, LLC, since 1998.

Michael is a globally recognized thought leader in the emerging field of Executive Integration. His groundbreaking book, Before Onboarding: How to Integrate New Leaders for Quick and Sustained Results, holds a “five star” rating on Amazon. He is a prolific writer in the subject areas of executive recruiting and integration, leadership, and career transitions. He is a “Diamond Level” author at EzineArticles.com (a distinction achieved by less than one percent of their contributing writers), and his blog, Leading Edge Memos, is read in over 60 countries. Michael is a sought after keynote speaker, conference breakout session leader and panel member.

Prior to entering the private sector in 1984, Michael spent 12 years on active duty as a US Army officer. He later accepted a commission in the Army Reserve where he served for an additional 17 years, retiring at the rank of Colonel.

Michael earned his Bachelor’s Degree in English at Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s Degree in public administration from Clark University.

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Larry H. Munson

Advisor

Larry Munson serves as an Advisor to Sheer Velocity and is based in San Francisco.

Larry H. Munson, Managing Director

Larry Munson is an Advisor to Sheer Velocity and is based in San Francisco. Larry brings extensive executive recruiting, executive and career coaching, and corporate management experience to Sheer Velocity. This includes 14 years of retained executive search experience with a global recruiting firm, plus 7 years as an executive coach, and more than 15 years in management positions with Fortune-500 and entrepreneurial companies.

Larry’s recruiting experience is extensive, having conducted hundreds of senior and middle management searches for large and small organizations in many industries, including: consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, food, high technology, biotechnology, nutraceuticals, business services, consumer services, financial services, consulting, software, and telecommunications.

Prior to becoming a retained search consultant, Larry worked in general management and senior marketing management positions where he led 12 successful turnarounds of business units of large and small companies. Larry has been President of two small service companies, has held senior marketing roles with divisions of three Fortune-500 consumer product companies, has been a Consultant with a turnaround management consulting firm, and a Director of Organizational Effectiveness with a franchisor.

He also serves as an Executive Coach with Sheer Velocity’s Executive Integration team which – when requested – works with hired candidates before they are on-boarded and during their first 90 days on the job. Sheer Velocity uses innovative techniques to increase the pace and effectiveness at which new hires get up to speed and generate successful outcomes.

Larry earned his M.A. in Communications/Journalism and his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Missouri. He and his wife live in the San Francisco Bay area where he actively volunteers his problem-solving skills with several not-for-profit organizations.